Pretty Little Casketts
by abbyfillion22
Summary: Kate and Rick are called to Rosewood PA to investigate the murder of Alison DiLaurentis. Co-written by Kayson3259
1. Chapter 1

Kate Beckett sat in bed with her laptop propped open. It was a long day at the precinct and she was relaxing with a game of Words With Friends. As she was waiting for Lanie to take her turn, she tied her wavy brown hair into a messy bun. Lanie entered the word 'Flesh' crossing with her word, 'Heroin' at the 'E'.

"Who are you playing?" Rick Castle asked as he climbed into bed next to her.

"Lanie. I'm kicking her ass too," said Kate, adding the word 'Firearms' to the board.

Rick looked at her screen. "You two sure use some violent words."

"Yeah, well, our jobs make us like this," she said, typing in another word. Her laptop made a chiming sound, indicating that she had a new email. A window popped up in front of her game.

"Who's emailing you at this time of night?" Rick asked, moving closer to her.

"It's the Pennsylvania State Police," said Kate, opening the email.

"Detective Beckett,

A few years ago, we had a murder of a young girl by the name of Allison DiLaurentis. The case was never solved, but it's now resurfacing. Our detectives do not have enough experience to solve this on their own. We have talked to your captain and she has agreed to assign this important case to you, along with your partner, Richard Castle. Please be at the Rosewood Precinct tomorrow morning at noon.

Sincerely,

Captain Geoff Fredrick, PSP"

"Can Gates do that?" Castle questioned. "Send you to another state like that?"

Kate shook her head in disbelief. "She already did. Looks like we're going to Rosewood." She set her laptop on the bed and swung her legs over the bed. "Start packing, Castle," she said as she loaded her gun.

An hour later, they were on the train headed south to Pennsylvania.

"Why did it have to be Pennsylvania?" said Castle, yawning. "Nothing ever happens in PA."

"That's why they don't have homicide experience there," Beckett said, flipping through the sports section of the New York Times. "We're going to have this case closed within a day."

That night, they stayed in the Rosewood Hotel, the only hotel within a twenty-mile radius of the small town. Behind the concierge desk, Kate noticed a large sign reading:

"In memory of Allison DiLaurentis, rest in peace."

Below it was a picture of a pretty blond girl, about 16 years old.

The manager noticed them staring at the picture. She clucked her tongue and shook her head. "Poor girl."

"Did you know her?" Kate asked.

"Everyone knows everybody around here, sweetheart," said the manager. "It's a very close town. Enjoy your stay." She handed them the room key.

Kate took the card. "This should be an easy case," she told Castle, "so few suspects compared to New York."

At noontime the next day, they were sitting in the Rosewood Precinct, waiting for Captain Fredrick. The station was tiny, and there were only two other officers sitting at their desks. Neither looked like they were doing anything productive.

"I like the small-town vibe they have going on here," said Castle, "very quiet."

"I know, they must get so bored around here," Beckett whispered.

A tall man with a 1970s mustache and haircut approached them and offered his hand. "Captain Geoff Fredrick, an honor to meet you, Detective Beckett. I've heard so much about you."

Kate shook his hand, "Nice to meet you, Captain."

Fredrick turned to Castle, "You must be Mr. Castle, the famous author," they shook hands, "My mother has all of your books."

Castle bit his lower lip and gave him a curt nod. "Captain."

He led them into his office. "I'll fill you in with the basics, Detective." He handed her a file labeled 'DiLaurentis Murder'.

Beckett opened the file. Inside was a photo of the girl they had seen on the poster. There were also pictures of four other pretty girls, the same age as the victim, and two middle aged people who she assumed to be Mr. and Mrs. DiLaurentis.

"Allison DiLaurentis went missing on September 1st, 2008. A year later, her body was found buried in a neighbor's backyard. Autopsies show that she received a blow to the head and then suffocated," said Fredrick. He pointed to the four pictures of the teenage girls. "Those were her four closest friends; they were with her the day before she went missing."

Beckett examined the photos. "Spencer Hastings, honor student, academic team, debate team, field hockey, and tennis. Very rich."

"Hanna Marin, criminal record for shoplifting, stole thousands of dollars in 2007."

"Aria Montgomery, no standout information."

"Emily Fields, star swimmer."

"From what we've gathered over the past few years, these four have clear motives for killing Allison," said Fredrick. "We found that Allison had been blackmailing Spencer, threatening to tell her sister that Spencer had slept with her boyfriend."

"Ooh, girl drama!" Castle said sassily, snapping his fingers.

Beckett smacked Castle. "Ignore him," she told Fredrick.

"Allison also knew that Hannah was bulimic and a notorious shoplifter-"

"That's motive for a girl to kill. Especially a girl with a reputation to uphold," noted Beckett.

"She knew that Emily was gay and threatened to out her," said Fredrick, folding his hands on the desk. "She came out anyways so that wouldn't exactly be a motive."

"It still could be," said Beckett, "maybe she wasn't ready for people to know at the time."

"Would a teenage girl really kill someone over that?" asked Castle.

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Beckett mused. "What about Montgomery?"

"Allison knew about Aria's father's affair. Her dad was a professor and he was cheating on his wife with one of his students. She was sending threatening letters to Mr. Montgomery and asked for thousands of dollars in exchange for her keeping mum."

"This Allison girl sounds like a real bitch," said Castle.

Beckett was impressed. "You sure have a lot of information, Captain. Why exactly did you need us to help you?"

Fredrick sat forward in his chair. "Things started to get complicated about a year ago. There have been mysterious deaths that all can be connected back to Allison. She was the It Girl at her school, everyone loved her. It doesn't make sense. Before the DiLaurentis case, nothing bad ever happened around here. But all of a sudden, there have been scandals uncovered and teenagers being murdered left and right. And these four girls here," he pointed to the photos, "are at the heart of all of this. They're hiding something."

"Pretty little liars," Castle muttered.


	2. Chapter 2

Beckett paced the floor of the interrogation room. Spencer Hastings sat in the chair across the table from Castle. She was a beautiful Italian girl with dark features and pale skin. She sat stick straight in her chair with her legs crossed and hands folded in her lap.

Before the interview began, Spencer said to Castle, "You're Rick Castle, right? The author? I'm friends with your daughter, Alexis."

Castle raised an eyebrow, curious. "How do you know her? You two don't exactly live close to each other."

Spencer nodded. "We met at a college visit to Princeton."

"Let's get started," Beckett interrupted. "Where were you the day Allison went missing?"

"We were having a sleepover in my barn," said Spencer.

"Who's we?" asked Castle.

"The five of us; Allison, Aria, Emily, Hanna, and me. It was the first day of summer before eighth grade and we always have a sleepover on the first day."

"And Allison went missing during the sleepover?"

"Y-yes," Spencer stuttered.

"How?" Beckett asked, leaning forward in her chair.

"I- I don't know. She… she just wasn't there when we woke up," said Spencer. Her eyes flitted around the room, never looking Beckett in the eye. Her eyes were red and she was shaking.

Beckett stood up and placed her hand on the table in front of the scared girl. "I don't believe you," she hissed.

"It's true, ma'am," Spencer said, finally meeting her eye.

"Do you have an alibi? Besides your three other friends, who I'm sure would be happy to lie for you, do you have an alibi, Hastings?" said Beckett, straightening up and continuing to pace.

"N-no," Spencer whispered.

Beckett stopped and crossed her arms. "Hastings, you have a very clear motive for killing Allison. She threatened to tell your sister that you had slept with her boyfriend. Do you deny that?"

"No, ma'am," said Spencer.

"What about the other girls? Do they have motives?" Castle asked.

Spencer stared at Castle. "I didn't kill Allison DiLaurentis. And neither did my friends."

"We'll see about that," said Beckett, narrowing her eyes. "Look, I don't like being like to. And I'll find out the truth sooner or later, so you might as well tell me it now."

"I don't know who killed Allison, detective," said Spencer, "but I do have some information that might help you with the case."

Castle leaned forward. "Do tell."

Spencer looked panicked. "You can't tell anyone I was the one who told you this. It could get us all killed."

Beckett sat down. "Who would want to kill you?"

Castle's mystery writer side took over. "Someone who knew the truth, correct?"

Spencer eyed him. "Yes. No. Well, sort of. We've all been getting strange text messages from an anonymous person. They go by the name of 'A'. Just the letter A, no name. At first we thought it was Allison, because she used to go by 'A'. We thought she was haunting us. But then we realized it was a boy named Toby Cavanaugh," she paused. "We thought that after Toby's suicide, it would all be over, but the messages kept coming. "

"He must have an accomplice," said Castle.

"What kind of messages?" asked Beckett.

"Just threats to expose our personal secrets. Emily tried to get the police involved to stop 'A', but 'A' got revenge by outing her to the entire school. That's why we've kept quiet." She turned to Castle, "To answer your previous question, 'A' did know the truth, but our secrets had nothing to do with the murder."

Beckett stood up. "Thank you, you've been very helpful, Spencer."

"That's all?" asked Spencer.

"For now," said Beckett. "We'll be checking your phone records to review those messages."

Spencer shook both of their hands, "Give Alexis my best, Mr. Castle," she said as she was leaving.

"Get Alexis on the phone," she instructed Castle when Spencer left.

"Why?"

"I want to see what she knows about Spencer and her friends."

Castle dialed Alexis and put her on speaker phone.

"Hey, Daddy," said Alexis. "How's Rosewood?"

"Fine, sweetheart," Castle said, "Would you happen to know a Spencer Hastings?" He almost hoped that she didn't know Spencer. He didn't want his little girl mixed up with a murder suspect.

Alexis thought for a moment. "Yeah, she lives in Rosewood. Why?"

"What do you know about her?" asked Beckett.

"Well, she's a really good student and she's close with three other girls. She said she was going through a rough time because her best friend was murdered," said Alexis. "What's this about, Daddy?"

"She's a suspect in her friend's murder," said Castle.

"Did she mention a boyfriend, Alexis?" Beckett asked.

"She said that there was a guy she was sleeping with, but not a boyfriend," said Alexis. "Spencer's not the killing type."

"That's what they say about every serial killer," said Castle.

"Thanks, Alexis, we'll call you if anything happens," Beckett hung up. "So what do you think?" she asked Castle.

"I think she's telling the truth about everything she told us, but she's hiding something," said Castle. "Why would Toby send threats to those girls if he didn't have a reason? And how does a girl go missing in the middle of the night without a trace and only be found years later? Toby definitely has an accomplice if they still got threats after he died. I don't think that Toby is the murderer because he wouldn't be threatening the girls about the truth if he's the one who did it."

"It's got to be someone close to the girls, someone who knew all of their phone numbers and knows their secrets," said Beckett.

"Like Allison," Castle said, raising an eyebrow.

"Allison is dead, you saw the autopsy," Beckett said, chewing on her thumbnail. "We need to find the people the girls were close to and check their backgrounds."

"Spencer is definitely out."

"Why?"

"She seemed too nice," said Castle.

"Yeah, well, it's the nice girls who are the craziest."


	3. Chapter 3

Hanna Marin was next in line for interrogation. Beckett figured that she would be one with the most information, given her history with Allison and the best motive.

Hanna had a punk-rock pretty-girl aura about her. She had medium length choppy blond hair and her eyes were lined with black makeup. You could tell by looking at her that she had money, and unlike Spencer, she flaunted her wealth. She wore an expensive diamond ring on her finger, Steve Madden boots that Beckett would kill for, and a Marc Jacobs bag slung over her shoulder. Her jacket was designer, her sunglasses were Ray Ban, and her teeth were professionally whitened. Only the best for Hanna Marin, queen bee of Rosewood Day.

Beckett began. "We can skip the intros, your friend Spencer already told us everything." She liked using the Prisoner's Dilemma tactic, giving the suspect a chance to out their accomplice.

"You don't know anything about us," said Hanna slyly.

"Oh really?" Beckett said. "I know that Allison used to bully you because you were fat."

Hanna's smile went away.

"And I know that she threatened to tell everyone that you were bulimic."

"What does that have to do with her murder?" Hannah snapped.

"I'm the one asking the questions here," said Beckett.

Hanna crossed her arms and sat back in her chair. "You don't know me, detective. And everything you think you know about this, you're wrong. It's so much more complicated than you think."

Beckett shook her head. "To me, this is a fairly simple case. It was a murder of vengeance. You have pretty clear motives. She threatened you, so you killed her. You were tired of her picking on you because of your weight. And with her gone, you could be the most popular girl in school."

Hanna stared at her lap. "I didn't kill Allison. She was my best friend, why would I kill her?"

"You tell us," said Castle.

Beckett opened her file and slid Hanna's papers to her to read. "You have quite a record here, Hanna. Shoplifting ten thousand dollars worth of merchandise. Your mom slept with the community cop to clear your record, so you thought this would all go away. But here it is, coming back to bite you in the ass."

"And you didn't steal by yourself, did you?" asked Castle. "Your partner in crime, Mona Vanderwaal, was also being bullied by Allison, wasn't she?"

"No," Hanna stated, looking hard at Castle.

Beckett slammed her hand down on the table, making both Hanna and Castle jump. "Don't lie to me. Mona is A, we tracked the blackmails back to her burner phone. She and Toby were in it together, they both wanted Allison dead. Can you tell me why that is?"

Realizing she was defeated, Hanna broke down. "Mona was my friend. She got really jealous after I started hanging out with Aria, Spencer, and Emily again after Allison's funeral. Allison was horrible to her. Allison was horrible to all of us actually, but we stayed with her because she was so? amazing. She made us feel special."

"What about Toby?" asked Castle. He was getting excited. This case was turning out to be a great story.

Hanna shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Allison and I knew that Toby had?"

Beckett reached over and placed her hand over Hanna's. "What did he do, Hanna? It will make it easier on you if you just tell us."

Hanna took a deep breath. "Toby molested his stepsister in middle school. And Allison and I knew about it. He told Allison that if she ever told anyone, he would tell everyone the truth about her. I didn't know what he was talking about, so I wasn't really worried. But he did have something on her."

"What was it?"

"I don't know. I honestly don't know. But it was enough to keep Allison quiet," said Hanna.


End file.
